ISRAEL: Parade or Provocation?

It was beyond doubt the most imposing display
of military might the Middle East had seen since the Six-Day War. As
300,000 Israelis and tourists thronged the streets of Jerusalem,
hundreds of tanks and artillery pieces rumbled along past the gray wall
surrounding the biblical Old City in a parade celebrating Israel's 25th
anniversary.

Two thousand troopsincluding miniskirted Women's Army Corps members
carrying submachine guns marched briskly along the city's ancient
streets. More than 400 aircraft, led by Air Force Commanding General
Mordechai Hod in a Phantom fighter-bomber, roared overhead in precision
formations; in one configuration, twelve Mirage fighters formed...